Justice First Fellows are hosted by some of the best social welfare legal organisations in the country, from local law centres and firms to national charities. Just like the Fellows, organisations who wish to become a host go through an application process.

Each year around 15 organisations are awarded grants which support them to train Fellows over the two years of their training contracts. Alongside the compulsory training, Fellows are supported by their Host organisation to devise and run their own project aimed at increasing access to justice in order to gain programme development experience and potentially to provide a future income stream for their Host organisation.

Generally, organisations are not-for-profit providers of legal advice but some are private law firms committed to social justice.

Charitable organisations without a legal team can partner with another organisation to host a Fellow. If your organisation does not have a solicitor, you could consider partnering with another organisation who can support you with the legal supervision required of the Fellowship. You can read more about Hosting partnerships below.

Please see our ‘About the Fellowship’ pages to read more about what the Justice First Fellowship involves and who some of the Host organisations are. If you have not been a Host before or are considering if a partnership application is right for you, please do get in touch with us here.

 

Is my organisation eligible to be a JFF Host?

To be eligible your organisation must:

•  Meet the requirements set out by the relevant regulatory authority to supervise a trainee solicitor:
  • England & Wales – Solicitors Regulation Authority
  • Scotland – Law Society of Scotland
  • Northern Ireland – Law Society of Northern Ireland
• Be able to provide training in at least two or three areas of law or if you specialise in one area, demonstrate there is enough breadth within that area to train a Fellow.

 

What else do we consider?

From eligible applications, LEF will only select Hosts who can offer fellows excellent legal training and the best support to become a successful social justice lawyer in the future. We aim to prioritise applications by considering where a grant to host one of our Fellows could provide the most impact. We look for the following when considering Hosts for selection:

• Have a strong training ethos.
• Offer an inclusive and supportive working environment for Fellows.
• Strive to learn from their beneficiaries and local community.
• Expert in an area of social justice law.
• Do work that is of national significance or play a key role in their geographic region.
• Do work which is innovative and strategic.
• Think creatively about the future sustainability of their work.
• Cover a geographic area or particular community who are otherwise underserved by advice provision.
• Are likely to be financially stable for the duration of the training contract.
• Financial ability to offer a training position without receiving grant funding.
• Number of trainees currently within an organisation.

LEF will endeavour to create a balanced selection each year across locations and legal specialisms, experienced and new Hosts. Consideration is also given to the priorities of co-funders.

For our 2025 recruitment round, we are particularly interested in hearing from organisations based in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, or from the north of England.

You can also read our wider criterion on how we prioritise applications and eligibility and exclusions applicable across all grant programmes run by the Legal Education Foundation, which funds and manages JFF.

 

What does a grant award include?

A grant award will cover the costs associated with employing a Fellow over two years, including salary, national insurance, pension contribution and associated supervision and support costs. LEF will also cover the costs of the Fellow’s mandatory  professional training, as well as contribute to any additional training and IT set-up. Private firms are expected to cover their supervision costs to reflect the legal aid income that will be earned by the Fellow during their training.

Hosts, like Fellows, also become part of a wider cohort of social justice organisations who have taken part in the fellowship. Many Hosts have found the connections they have formed in this network to be the start of valuable working relationships. Hosts are offered training and peer support sessions facilitated by LEF covering topics from fundraising, project management and supervision practice.

 

What does a Hosting partnership look like?

Each partnership will be slightly different depending on the needs of the applicant, the partner organisation and the Fellow. Often, the lead applicant organisation will have legal expertise while a partner organisation may have specialist knowledge of their community, maybe as a campaigning or policy organisation. We would also usually expect the lead applicant organisation to be the organisation which oversees and signs off the legal supervision and training for a Fellow.

The following approaches could be considered when deciding how to share your hosting responsibilities:

• A Fellow may split their week across both organisations;
• You might arrange for one organisation to support the Fellow with developing their project and the other organisation be responsible for the Fellow’s legal training; or
• a Fellow may spend the majority of their training with one organisation and then be seconded for a few months at the partner organisation.

What is common across theses different models is the creative use of law that the partnerships foster. We have seen these joint ventures strengthen ties between organisations, allowing them to develop a mutual respect for their different valuable skillsets and approaches to supporting social justice. Our support for hosting partnerships is relatively recent; some examples include:

• Deighton Pierce Glynn & Inclusion London
• Bhatt Murphy & Article 39
• Children’s Legal Centre Wales & the Children’s Commissioner for Wales and other local firms

Partnership grant awards will usually be made to the organisation providing the legal supervision.

 

How are Fellows selected?

As a Host, you are the Fellow’s trainer and employer. Candidates can apply to up to two Host organisations of their choice by initially submitting an online application through our website. . The programme is extremely competitive and application standards are always high each year. You can read more about the Fellow application process here.